Flames 3, Stars 2: Calgary edges Dallas in Game 1

Calgary Flames 3 – Dallas Stars 2

Scoring

Calgary Flames

1st: 10:54- Dube (2) (Lucic [4], Backlund [2]), 18:02- Dube (3) (Gustafsson [4], Forbort [1])

2nd: 16:01- Andersson (2) (Jankowski [1], Hanifin [3])

3rd: None

Dallas Stars

1st: None

2nd: 10:52- Gurianov (1) (Heiskanen [5], Oleksiak [1]), 11:01- Benn (1) (Lindell [1])

3rd: None

Recap

Before I can recap this game, I feel the need to comment on the fact that the Columbus/Tampa Bay game started a full 2 and a half hours before this one, and yet is still ongoing in the fourth overtime.

In a more reasonably played Game 1, the Calgary Flames pulled out a series opening win against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.

It was the Dillon Dube show for the entire first period, as the 2016 second round pick potted 2, for his first multi goal game. Milan Lucic extended his incredible playoff scoring streak to 5 games, as he slid a gorgeous one touch pass over to Dube, who slapped the one-timer past Anton Khudobin. Ben Bishop was deemed unfit to play shortly before puck drop. The goal was a powerplay marker, and would be the Flames only chance on the man advantage all afternoon.

Dube then took a penalty for a questionable hit on Jason Dickinson, and was sprung on a breakaway not long after exiting the box. That would also be Dallas’s only powerplay until the final minute of the game

I wasn’t lying about how impactful Dube was in the first. He took a seemingly harmless breakout pass from Derek Forbort, and took the puck all the way around Andrej Sekera and past the outstretched leg of Khudobin. It extended the lead to 2, and would hold through the intermission.

Cam Talbot has been porous for an entire 9 second span over the course of the last 2 games. Unfortunately for the Flames, this span resulted in two nearly identical goals. Dennis Gurianov’s point shot deflected off of TJ Brodie, and was followed by Jamie Benn’s bouncing shot that found it’s way through Talbot.

The Stars had pressed back hard in the second period and the game certainly seemed poised to enter the third tied. Rasmus Andersson took advantage of a shaky game from Sekera to ensure that did not happen. Andersson carried it through the neutral zone and whipped a wrist shot off of Sekera’s stick and under the bar. Mark Jankowski notched his first career playoff point on the goal.

The Flames held the Stars at bay throughout the third, including having to kill a Mark Giordano penalty with less than a minute remaining. Game 2 goes Thursday at 8:30 pm MST (barring any 4 OT games before), and the Flames look to end a 10 game Game 2 losing streak.

Flame of the Game:

Dillon Dube (F): Lots of solid performances once again tonight, but I won’t let a recency bias affect a superb game from Dillon Dube. Whatever Dube changed in his game from March to August is incredible, as he extends his point streak to 4, tallying 3 goals and an assist.

by Gordie Taylor